Dan Quinn Debunks Viral Fourth Down Comment in Commanders’ Loss. Here’s What He Actually Said.

The Commanders had another game management gaffe in their 23–17 loss to the 49ers on Monday night.

Early in the second quarter, Washington drove into San Francisco’s territory and faced fourth-and-2 from the 49ers’ 13-yard-line. Puzzlingly, quarterback Jayden Daniels rolled out to his right and threw the ball away, even though it was fourth down and a throwaway would result in a turnover on downs. There was a flag down on the play, which was a penalty against the offense for an illegal shift. The 49ers declined the call, and regained possession of the football while the Commanders came away with no points on the drive.

Since it was a fourth down, it would have made sense for Daniels to at least try to connect with one of his receivers, even if they were covered. Sure, the pass could have been intercepted, but at that point, the ball was going to be headed back to the 49ers anyway—might as well give one of his teammates a chance to make a play.

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The play became even more confounding when a camera shot of the sideline showed coach Dan Quinn appearing to say, “Field goal. Oh, that was fourth down.” From the lip reading, it seemed that Quinn did not realize it was a fourth down play, and thought they could still attempt a field goal.

During his postgame presser, Quinn clarified that he did, indeed, know it was a fourth down.

“I definitely knew it was fourth down,” Quinn told reporters. “I think what you’re referring to I was probably saying with the illegal shift there’s not a penalty to go for a field goal. It’s the turn on downs. I think somebody had asked me, ‘Can we kick a field goal?’ We were going for it. We knew we had to go for some fourth downs to be bold in the game. ... It was by design that we were going to go. I knew what happened.”

Daniels took accountability for throwing the ball away after the game. He acknowledged he did know there was a flag on the play, but didn’t know what the call was for. “I just gotta execute better in that situation, regardless of a flag or not,” he said. “… I have to be better in that spot.” 

The botched fourth down play comes a week after the Commanders became the story of the NFL for all the wrong reasons, as they failed to spike the football in time in overtime to set up a potential game-winning field goal attempt. Despite the seconds ticking off the clock, Daniels and the Commanders’ offense showed little urgency to get back to the line of scrimmage, and they ran out of time, resulting in a tie with the Giants. Both Daniels and Quinn took responsibility for the poorly executed end-of-game sequence.

Unlike last week, this moment was not what ended the game for the Commanders, who rallied back in the second half with two touchdown drives. Washington was unable to score a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes, but gave the undefeated 49ers a scare at home. They’ll go into their bye week at 1-4-1, looking to keep pace with a weak NFC East.